NOVEMBER 3 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

NOVEMBER 3

1806

Greater Poland Uprising:  General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski and Józef Rufin Wybicki entered Poznan on November 3, 1806 leading the first units of the French army.  Upon their arrival, they were met with joyous fanfare and large patriotic celebration.  On the same day Dąbrowski rallied the Poles to stand with arms on Napoleon's side and fight against Prussian occupation. Dąbrowski and Wybicki created Voivodship Commissions, whose tasks were to take administrative control and maintain peace and order in the area.  The Greater Poland Uprising was a military insurrection by Poles against the occupying Prussian forces after the Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1772–1795).  It was one of the most successful Uprisings in Polish history.  General Dabrowski is commemorated as Poland's hero, and is venerated in the Polish National Anthem.  It was Wybicki who penned the lyrics to the anthem, Mazurek Dąbrowskiego.

1943

Aktion Erntefest (Operation Harvest Festival)  occurred on November 3 and 4, 1943 in which mass shooting rampages took place at Majdanek concentration camp and its sub-camps. It was carried out by the Nazi German SS and the Ukrainian Sonderdienst, to liquidate the remaining Polish Jews. Approximately 43,000 Jews were killed on the orders of Christian Wirth and Jakob Sporrenberg, eliminating virtually the entire Jewish working force.  Operation Harvest Festival was the single largest German massacre of Jews in the entire war. It surpassed the notorious massacre of more than 33,000 Jews at Babi Yar outside Kiev by 10,000 victims. It was exceeded only by the 1941 Odessa massacre of more than 50,000 Jews in October 1941, committed by Romanian troops.


On November 3, 1943, the USAAF Eighth Air Force, consisting of a total of 539 aircraft launched a devastating raid on the Wilhelmshaven harbor. Strategic Operations ordered 539 of 566 B-17's and B-24's to the Wilhemshaven port, which hit the target at 1307-1335 hours. They claimed 21-3-24 Luftwaffe aircraft; 7 B-17's were lost, 2 damaged beyond repair, and 47 damaged; casualties were 12 WIA and 70 MIA. The mission included 11 Pathfinders, 9 using new H2X blind-bombing device (first time on a US mission) and 2 using H2S. This was the first Eighth Air Force blind-bombing mission in which the aiming point was completely destroyed and was also the Eighth's first 500-plane mission. 333 P-47's and 45 P-38's escorted the bombers with the P-38's escorting the heavy bombers almost the entire trip and saw their first real ETO combat, claiming 3-5-5 Luftwaffe aircraft.